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Occupation · 2026 assessment

Researcher

A Researcher frames research questions, obtains and validates evidence and is accountable for reproducible, sound scientific conclusions. The assessment separates automation of individual tasks from accountability for the professional outcome.

Moderate risk level Search jobs ↗
How risk may change

A forecast estimate, not a guaranteed scenario.

45%2026
48%2028
52%2030
58%2035

Which tasks are exposed

Risk applies to individual tasks—not to a person or an entire occupation.

TaskRisk
reviewing scientific literature63%
forming a hypothesis58%
designing the study54%
collecting samples or data49%
performing measurements43%
statistical analysis33%
interpreting results22%
preparing publication14%

Task map

AI replaces ↔ AI augments

Each task is positioned by AI capability and the degree of human involvement still required.

  1. 1reviewing scientific literatureAI 63% · human 53%
  2. 2forming a hypothesisAI 58% · human 57%
  3. 3designing the studyAI 54% · human 62%
  4. 4collecting samples or dataAI 49% · human 68%
  5. 5performing measurementsAI 43% · human 70%
  6. 6statistical analysisAI 33% · human 69%
  7. 7interpreting resultsAI 22% · human 67%
  8. 8preparing publicationAI 14% · human 71%

Why technology can change this work

  • digital tools reduce preparation and control time
  • full automation is constrained by variable real-world conditions
  • many cases still require professional judgement
  • the main inputs and outputs already exist digitally

What protects the occupation

  • framing a testable question
  • interpreting ambiguous evidence
  • scientific accountability

United States · before tax

Average pay and outlook

Estimated nominal monthly pay. The scenario reflects sector, demand and task resilience; it is not a guarantee of income.

2026$7 600per month
2035$10 250scenario estimate
2026: $7 60020262027: $7 85020272028: $8 15020282029: $8 40020292030: $8 70020302031: $9 00020312032: $9 30020322033: $9 60020332034: $9 95020342035: $10 2502035
Find jobs ↗The partner link may contain referral parameters. Data benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ↗

Practical next step

Where to move next

Do not restart from zero: carry your experience forward and add scarce skills.

AI Evaluation Engineer

Emerging role
New role risk16%
DemandHighDifficultyMediumTime6–12 monthsSkill fit72%

Materials Discovery Specialist

Emerging role
New role risk13%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit87%

Bioinformatics Pipeline Engineer

Emerging role
New role risk13%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit85%

Synthetic Biology Process Engineer

Emerging role
New role risk14%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit83%

Dataset Curator

Emerging role
New role risk34%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit81%

Model Behavior Analyst

Emerging role
New role risk19%
DemandHighDifficultyMediumTime6–12 monthsSkill fit64%

Job search and transitions

Find work with a lower risk index

Compare adjacent paths and open a current search for the selected occupation.

Skills you already have

  • research methodology
  • laboratory or field methods
  • statistics
  • critical thinking
  • scientific writing
  • reproducibility

Skills to build

  • computational methods
  • experiment automation
  • open data
  • AI-hypothesis verification
  • scientific programming
  • research-data management
CurrentResearcher · 45%
→
Keepresearch methodology · laboratory or field methods · statistics
→
Addcomputational methods · experiment automation · open data

Sources and update

Updated: 2026-09-26 · Assessment confidence: Medium

International Labour Organization · 2025Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure

Nearly 30,000 tasks; a global assessment of GenAI exposure across detailed occupational groups.

World Economic Forum · 2025The Future of Jobs Report 2025

A survey of more than 1,000 employers representing over 14 million workers across 55 economies.

O*NET Resource Center · 2026O*NET Database

Occupational, task, skill and work-context structure.